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35 Best Cycling Quotes

Albert Einstein, riding a bike
"Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance, you must keep moving." --Albert Einstein

Cycling is perhaps the most inspiring sport in the world. It’s not only inspiring, but also brutal, punishing, filled with pain and suffering, yet still beautiful. It inspired many writers and poets. Here are the best cycling quotes below (ordered by owners’ surname):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – A

Jacques Anquetil, 1956 Grand Prix des Nations (featured)
Jacques Anquetil was born on January 8, 1934. He died on November 18, 1987. He was the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five-times. His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in individual time trial stages, which lent him the name "Monsieur Chrono". His other nicknames were "Maître Jacques" (English: Master Jacques) and "la Caravelle" (English: The Caravelle). In the photo, Anquetil on his way to winning the 1956 Grand Prix des Nations, an an individual time trial event which run from 1932 to 2004.

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with A).

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – B

Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi behind
Gino Bartali with Fausto Coppi behind him. Unfortunately I couldn't find in which race the photo was taken. Some sources say it's from 1952 Tour de France, but I think it's unlikely, because Bartali was a gregario of Coppi at the 1952 Tour, and it seems Bartali is attacking Coppi here. But it must be 1950s though, since Bartali seems very old here. And what was going on behind Coppi? It seems like somebody is fighting. Gino Bartali (18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000) was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia three times (1936, 1937, 1946) with 17 individual stages and the Tour de France twice, in 1938 and 1948, with twelve individual stages. His second and last Tour de France victory in 1948 gave him the largest gap between victories in the race, which still remains. He also won Milan-Sanremo four times, Giro di Lombardia (today Il Lombardia) three times, became the Italian champion four times (first in 1935 and the last one was in 1952!), Giro d'Italia mountains classification seven times, Tour de France mountains classification twice, among with many other important stage races and one day classics. In September 2013, 13 years after his death, Bartali was recognised as a "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem for his efforts to aid Jews during World War II. Bartali has earned respect for his work in helping Jews who were being persecuted by the Nazis during the time of the Italian Social Republic (Mussolini's fascist Italy). It emerged in December 2010 that Bartali had hidden a Jewish family in his cellar and, according to one of the survivors, by doing so saved their lives. Bartali used his fame to carry messages and documents to the Italian Resistance. Bartali cycled from Florence through Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, sometimes traveling as far afield as Rome, all the while wearing the racing jersey emblazoned with his name. Neither the Fascist police nor the German troops risked discontent by arresting him. Giorgio Nissim, a Jewish accountant from Pisa, was a member of DELASEM, founded by the Union of the Israelitic Communities to help Jewish Italians escape persecution. The network in Tuscany was discovered in autumn 1943 and all members except Nissim sent to concentration camps. He met Pope Pius XII and, with the help of the Archbishop of Genoa, the Franciscan Friars and others he reorganized DELASEM and helped 800 escape. Nissim died in 2000. His sons found from his diaries that Bartali had used his fame to help. Nissim and the Oblati Friars of Lucca forged documents and needed photographs of those they were helping. Bartali used to leave Florence in the morning, pretending to train, rode to a convent in which the Jews were hiding, collected their photographs and rode back to Nissim. Bartali used his position to learn about raids on safehouses. Bartali was eventually taken to Villa Triste in Florence. The SD and the Italian RSS office, Mario Carità questioned Bartali, threatening his life. Bartali simply answered "I do what I feel [in my heart]". Bartali continued with the Assisi Underground. In 1943, he led Jewish refugees towards the Swiss Alps himself. He cycled pulling a wagon with a secret compartment, telling patrols it was just part of his training. Bartali told his son Andrea only that "One does these things and then that's that". In June 2012 a book about Bartali's wartime activities, Road To Valor by Aili and Andres McConnon, was published. I strongly recommend this book, you can buy it from amazon. In 2013 Yad Vashem recognized Gino Bartali the title of Righteous Among the Nations. He is a central figure in the 2014 documentary My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes.

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with B):

By Surname: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – C

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with C):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – D

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with D):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – E

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with E):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – F

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with F):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – G

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with G):

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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – H

Bernard Hinault
The last French winner of the Tour de France (1985), Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) won the Tour five times. He is also one of only six cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours (others are Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali), and one of two cyclists to have won each more than once (the other being Alberto Contador). He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985. He came second in 1984 and 1986 and won 28 stages, of which 13 were individual time trials. The other three to have achieved five Tour de France victories are Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain; of these, Hinault is the only one to have finished either first or second in each Tour de France he finished. Hinault was nicknamed Le Blaireau (either "the shaving brush" or "the badger"), as he would often do a hairband, thus resembling a shaving brush. However, his nickname is typically translated as "badger" by Anglophone cycling commentators and enthusiasts. In an interview in the French magazine Vélo, however, Hinault said the badger nickname had nothing to do with the animal. He said it was a local cyclists' way of saying "mate" or "buddy" in his youth - "How's it going, badger?"- and that it came to refer to him personally. According to Maurice Le Guilloux, a long-time team-mate of Hinault, he and Georges Talbourdet first used the nickname when the three riders trained together in their native Brittany in the early years of Hinault's professional career. Source: wikipedia

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with H):

Continue reading “Nicknames of Cyclists – H”
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Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – I

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with I):

Continue reading “Nicknames of Cyclists – I”